William Hill Shop Sign Fall Kills Man

A man has died after being hit by a large metal sign that fell from a William Hill shop.

The man, believed to be in his 20s, was treated at the scene in Camden, north London, on Monday afternoon before being taken to hospital, where medical staff were unable to save him.

He has not yet been named.

"Every effort was made to resuscitate him at the scene and on the way to University College Hospital," a London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said.

The 30ft sign, which had covered the length of the betting shop, was seen on the pavement. Police erected a forensic tent to cover the scene and taped off the surrounding area.

Police sealed off the area around the shop

Ioana Nita, 21, was working at a nearby restaurant when she heard a "very loud noise".

"Me and a colleague went outside and saw the guy lying on the floor," she said.

"Five guys picked up the sign and it was put on the side. His hands were covered in blood and he wasn't moving.

"Lots of people were in a circle around him, then the ambulance arrived and they were trying to get him back to life, pressing on his heart."

She added: "I just want to go home and cry. I don't know how that can happen. The sign is huge. Everyone said he was just walking past the shop."

Ken Osbourne, 28, who works at the nearby Woody Grill restaurant, said: "I saw the guy lying down in the road, covered in blood.

"Hundreds of people walk past here every day. It could've been me or any one of them."

Health and safety investigators entered a flat above the shop to take photographs of the sign. Flowers have been left at the scene.

A William Hill spokeswoman said: "There is an urgent investigation under way and we are still establishing facts and liaising with authorities.

"As such, we don't have a comment to make at this time."

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Mali: British Troops To Join French Mission

Mali: Islamists Burn Ancient Papers

Updated: 7:21pm UK, Monday 28 January 2013

French troops are inside the historic city of Timbuktu in Mali after advancing north into an area held by Islamist militants.

As they fled, the insurgents apparently set fire to a library that is home to thousands of ancient manuscripts, an act described by the city's mayor as a "devastating blow" to world heritage.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford was the first journalist to enter Timbuktu as the French were heading into the city.

She said: "In the centre of the town they are celebrating, they're going absolutely bonkers with flags, cheering and waving and saying thank you to the French."

But amid the apparent relief among local people, she reported the anger of those who said they were helpless to stop the Islamists burning ancient documents at the city's main library, the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Islamic Studies and Research.

Inside the building, which had reportedly been used as a sleeping quarters by the Islamists, Crawford said the empty boxes strewn around her had contained thousands of historic manuscripts.

"Some of the documents date back to the 13th century," she said. "This was all the documentation they'd built up over centuries of life in Timbuktu - all either burned by the Jihadists or they have disappeared."

The city's mayor, Ousmane Halle, said: "They torched all the important ancient manuscripts. The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people. It's truly alarming that this has happened."

During their rule, the militants systematically destroyed UNESCO World Heritage sites in Timbuktu, long a hub of Islamic learning.

Crawford, who is embedded with the French forces, visited the tombs of three local Sufi saints, which were centuries old. Her report showed they had been reduced to piles of rubble.

UNESCO says that one of those destroyed was the tomb of Sidi Mahmoudou, a saint who died in 955.

A spokesman for the al Qaeda-linked militants has said the tombs were destroyed because they contravened Islam, encouraging Muslims to venerate saints instead of God.

Ground forces backed by French paratroopers and helicopters had taken control of Timbuktu's airport and the roads leading to the town in an overnight operation.

It is part of the French-led mission to oust the radical Islamists from the northern half of Mali, which they seized more than nine months ago in the wake of a military coup in the distant capital of Bamako.

The French and Malian forces so far have met little resistance.

Timbuktu lies on an ancient caravan route and has entranced travellers for centuries. It is situated some 1,000km (620 miles) northeast of Bamako.

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Bali Drugs Case: Briton Julian Ponder Jailed

A British man has been jailed for six years and fined the equivalent of £65,000 after being convicted of cocaine possession in Bali.

Julian Ponder, 43, from Brighton, was cleared of drug trafficking but found guilty of the lesser offence of possession.

Prosecutors in Indonesia had asked for a seven-year prison term, and he could have faced a maximum sentence of life.

Ponder has been linked to Lindsay Sandiford, the 56-year-old British grandmother sentenced to death for smuggling cocaine worth £1.5m onto the island in May last year.

She alleged that Ponder was the man she was going to deliver the drug shipment to, a claim he denies.

Ponder and his partner Rachel Dougall were arrested alongside Sandiford in a sting operation by Indonesian police.

At the time of her arrest, Dougall, who has a young daughter, insisted she was the victim of a "fit-up" and Ponder claimed he was "trapped".

Ponder's lawyer said he was told that Sandiford was delivering a present for his child's birthday and, when he met her to receive the gift, police officers arrested him.

Sky's Jonathan Samuels said: "It was alleged that he was linked to Lindsay Sandiford ... she was caught at the airport and arrested, and she alleged that Julian Ponder was the man she was going to deliver the cocaine to.

"It's something he has always denied. He was initially charged with drugs trafficking, but that charge was dropped.

"He was then charged with drugs possession after a small amount of drugs was found in his home.

"The judges did have the right to re-examine the evidence, and to re-charge him with drug trafficking.

"They've decided not to do that, so he will spend six years in one of the most notorious jails on the holiday island."

Sandiford, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, has notified Indonesian officials she intends to appeal against her sentence.

She was accused by the Bali court of damaging the image of the resort island and received the sentence despite prosecutors only asking for a 15-year jail term.

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Brazil Nightclub Fire: Security 'Blocked Exit'

Security guards tried to block people from leaving a nightclub in Brazil where more than 230 people were killed in a fire, survivors and rescuers have said.

A preliminary investigation also found that the club's single exit was blocked by the bodies of those already dead.

The fast-spreading blaze raged through the crowded Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, with a cloud of toxic smoke setting off panic as party-goers gasping for air rushed to the exit.

Witnesses said a flare or firework lit by members of a band onstage started the fire.

Men try to break through a wall to help the victims

Police inspector Marcelo Arigony confirmed survivors' accounts that security guards initially tried to block people from exiting the club.

Brazilian bars routinely make patrons pay their entire tab at the end of the night before they are allowed to leave.

But Mr Arigony said the guards did not appear to block fleeing patrons for long.

"It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," he said.

Officials say 233 people died, and around 117 others were injured.

The blaze broke out while the band, called Gurizada Fandangueira, was performing in the club, which was overcrowded with some 1,500 people.

Some of those who escaped the building tried to smash a hole in the wall to allow other trapped people out.

Fire chief Guido de Melo said there was panic after the fire started and many revellers were trampled. He said the main cause of death was asphyxiation.

Mr Melo said firefighters had a hard time getting inside the club because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance".

"Security guards blocked their exit and did not allow them to leave quickly. That caused panic," he said.

Within hours, the bodies of the victims were lined up in a community gym, partially covered with black plastic as desperate family members identified their relatives.

Many of those who died were under 20 years old, including some children.

The packed club had only one exit

The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Mr Melo said the club was authorised to be open, though its permit was in the process of being renewed.

But he pointed to possible safety violations - from the flare that went off during the show to the locked door that kept people from getting out.

"The problem was the use of pyrotechnics, which is not permitted," Mr Melo said.

Police inspector Sandro Meinerz told the Agencia Estado news agency the band was to blame for a pyrotechnics show and that manslaughter charges could be filed.

The club's management said in a statement that its staff were trained and prepared to deal with any emergency. It said it would help authorities with their investigation.

Television images showed black smoke billowing out of the nightclub as shirtless young men who had attended a university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at windows and pink exterior walls to free those trapped inside.

Bodies of the dead and injured were strewn in the street and panicked screams filled the air as medics tried to help.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

The fire took place in Santa Maria

Another survivor, Michele Pereira, told the Folha de S Paulo newspaper she was near the stage when members of the band lit flares that started the fire.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said.

"At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band had started playing at 2.15am.

"We had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning," he said.

"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it.

"When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working."

He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, had died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Mr Martin told Radio Gaucha that the band was already seeing hostile messages.

"People on the social networks are saying we have to pay for what happened," he said. "I'm afraid there could be retaliation."

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff arrived to visit the injured after cutting short her trip to a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

"It is a tragedy for all of us," Ms Rousseff said.

Britain's Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire said he was "deeply saddened" by "tragic accident" and sent his condolences.

The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961, when a fire that swept through a circus killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

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HS2 Rail Link: Second Phase Is Unveiled

Details of the next phase of the Government's high-speed rail network, taking the route beyond Birmingham, have been unveiled.

The planned route will have five new stations at Manchester, Manchester Airport, Toton in the East Midlands, Sheffield and in Leeds.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin is bringing forward public consultation on the plans to 2013 in a bid to fast-track the project.

The £32.7bn project is one of the coalition's priorities as it tries to kickstart the economy. Construction is due to start in 2017 with the first trains in service by 2026.

Pro-HS2 campaigners hailed the plan as "visionary" but there was immediate concern about the effect on the counties involved.

Chancellor George Osborne insisted the network would be an "engine for growth" in the north and the Midlands, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

The route will cut through areas of outstanding natural beauty

He admitted communities along the route would face "very difficult" disruption to their lives but said the economic benefits were "pretty compelling".

The original link connects London to Birmingham, after which it splits into a Y-shape with two branches, one up to Manchester and another to Leeds.

The branch running via Manchester Airport will include a spur to Crewe to speed up trips to Liverpool and Scotland by better connecting to conventional services.

The second branch - which includes Sheffield being served by a station at the Meadowhall shopping centre instead of the city centre - could prove more controversial.

Officials said interconnections would be improved at any stations sited outside cities.

A "parkway" station is set be included at Toton between Nottingham and Derby.

But a proposed spur to Heathrow has been put on hold pending the results of Sir Howard Davies' review of future airport capacity - which is not due to give a final report until the summer of 2015.

The plans are being opposed in some rural communities

Instead, passengers heading to the world's busiest airport will have to change onto the new London east-west Crossrail service for an 11-minute transfer to terminals.

The Department for Transport said the journey from Manchester to Birmingham would be reduced to 41 minutes and from Manchester to London to 1 hour 8 minutes - almost half the present times.

Leeds will be 57 minutes away from Birmingham compared to 1 hour 58 mins today, and 1hr 22mins away from London Euston, down from 2hrs 12 minutes - official projections say.

Mr McLoughlin hailed the rail project as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform Britain's connectivity, capacity and competitiveness".

He admitted: "I know that this project is controversial" but added: "This is not about short-term popularity. It is about doing what is right for the country in the long-term."

The project has been welcomed by civic and business leaders in the region, who predict that the number of jobs created could be far higher than the 100,000 cited by the DfT.

But it has also proved controversial, especially in picturesque Tory heartlands which will be affected, such as the Chilterns, infuriating MPs and countryside campaigners.

Conservatives in Chancellor George Osborne's Tatton constituency have already indicated that they will object to plans to route the line through parts of the Cheshire countryside.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who is also MP for Sheffield Hallam, was forced to defend the move not to run the new line into Sheffield city centre.

"The city centre option is not a cost-free one. It would be a lot more expensive and also the train link would be slower, which slightly defeats the purpose of the whole exercise," he said.

Campaign group Stop HS2 claimed high speed rail projects elsewhere had "sucked jobs to the capital cities" and that this project would do little to regenerate the north.

Chair Penny Gaines said: "HS2 is a London-centric proposal that seems focused on extending the London commuter belt beyond Birmingham, when we need to create an engine for growth in the North, providing access to jobs for people who want to live and work in the North."

Labour backs HS2 - which was begun under its administration - but says there are "worrying signs" that the timetable for delivering it is slipping.

The High Court is currently considering whether the first phase of the project, which will take high-speed trains from London to Birmingham, is legally flawed and needs to be reconsidered.

The challenge was taken to the court by campaigners who accused the Government of failing to undertake a "strategic environmental assessment" or arrange an adequate consultation process.

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'Hit-And-Run' Deaths: Tandem Cyclists Named

The car involved in an alleged hit-and-run crash that killed a husband and wife on a tandem bicycle was being followed by police, it has emerged.

The couple, who died at the scene of the collision in Bristol, have been named as 34-year-old Ross Matthews Simons and 30-year-old Clare Simons.

And police investigating the accident revealed the Citroen Picasso involved had collided with the cyclists just moments after officers tried to pull it over.

Lower Hanham Road is west of central Bristol

A statement issued by Avon and Somerset Police said: "Shortly before 4pm yesterday (Sunday), a police officer's attention was drawn to a Citroen Picasso travelling along Lower Hanham Road at speed.

"The officer indicated to the car to stop but it made off. The officer began to follow the car but it was lost to sight almost immediately. Very shortly afterwards the car stuck another vehicle and then collided with two cyclists on a tandem bicycle."

A 38-year-old man is being held by police after being arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving and the matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Police also said a 35-year-old woman had been arrested, on suspicion of dangerous driving.

Police tape at the scene of the tragic collision

And Inspector Frazer Davey urged any witnesses to come forward.

"Following investigations overnight the circumstances of this collision have become much clearer," he said.

"However I would appeal to anyone who witnessed this incident or saw this car in the area shortly before the collision to come forward and contact us.

"This is a tragic incident in which two people have needlessly lost their lives. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with their families."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or visit www.avonandsomerset.police.uk

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Payday Loan Sites' Dirty Tricks To Boost Traffic

By Jason Farrell, Sky Correspondent

A Sky News investigation has found that some payday loan brokers have benefitted from hacking into websites to divert the history and status of a legitimate business to their domain.

This increases their ranking on Google, and the tactic has given unregulated brokers access to online traffic worth millions of pounds.

The findings come as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) prepares its report into dirty tricks in the market, due to be published in February.

Every month, tens of thousands of potential customers use Google to search for payday loans.

The search engine has a complex algorithm based on a website's history and credibility which tries to ensure that users are directed to the most appropriate websites.

However, Google's natural listings system can be tricked. Sky News found three payday websites that were stealing the credibility of other websites to boost their ranking. The target victim sites included a music business, a graduate website and even a church website.

In November last year, Sky News discovered established music licencing website Ricordi was one of several domains that began ranking highly for selling payday loans on the front pages of Google. Clicking on the link diverted the user to a payday broker's site.

Dr Joseph Somerhalder says brokers have been 'stealing identities'

Web analyst Dr Joseph Somerhalder from search optimisation company Chillicow explained what was happening.

He told Sky News: "They hack into the website. They optimise the website for something that it is not about such as payday loans. Then they wait for the right moment, and then they forward all the history and all the credibility from the old website, the legitimate business, into the illegitimate business."

He added: "It's a bit like stealing your identity online. They take the website's identity and history and they point it somewhere else."

Ricordi is owned by Universal Music Group. A spokesperson for the company said: "We recently discovered the unauthorised access to our Ricordi UK website. UMG takes the protection of its sites very seriously and has implemented measures to prevent a recurrence of this type of event."

But other companies may not be aware of the hacking. Using web analysis software, we found that over 10,000 websites have been compromised by this technique on one server alone.

Sky News spoke to the owners of UK graduate website Gradfunding which was also in the process of being hijacked.

Dr Luke Blaxill, director of the website, said he was also trying to deal with the problem.

"To get rid of this we are going to have to rewrite every bit of code on the website and transfer it to a new server."

The payday loan intrusion meant his company was starting to fall down the listings for its own business operations and it could lose years of building up an online reputation.

Dr Blaxill said: "It has taken years for us to get to the position that we are in this particular market and for that effectively to be almost rewritten overnight by a scammer, is a real problem."

Gradfunding was among the target victim websites

Raiham Islam from Jar Applications, which fixed the problem for Gradfunding, told Sky News: "What they did was inject a malicious code into the web server, and the files trick Google by the method of cloaking.

"They then bomb the site with payday loan links to increase its ranking for payday loans and redirect the traffic to their scam website. That's when the hacker starts making money."

During the investigation we found church website Canada had been hacked for this purpose. We also discovered 21,000 payday loan links had been pointed at a Bonsai society website.

There are concerns these tactics leave UK loan customers exposed to unscrupulous, unregulated brokers.

Over the last two months Sky News conducted test searches on Google for payday loans which produced websites high in the natural listings that were in breach of OFT regulations.

Several had no consumer credit licence, a requirement for any loan broker and lead generator.

Some websites claimed to be 100% secure, but actually had no data protection when customers entered their bank details. This exposes customers to fraud and identity theft.

We also found many websites broke legal requirements on transparency to customers, such as failing to prominently display a representative APR or an address where the company can be contacted.

Sky News found three payday websites involved in dirty tricks

Some legitimate lenders in the industry have told us they are aware of the problem. Many of them advertise on Google's pay per-click service as an alternative to the natural listings.

One lender who did not want to be identified suggested the price of Google's sponsored links have gone up because demand has increased with legitimate companies struggling to get on the natural listings.

"Google could solve this problem by tightening up their algorithm" he suggested. "But they have no incentive to do so. We're all having to use the sponsored listings to get any traffic to our websites."

He added: "But customers don't realise that some companies on the natural listings don't have a consumer credit licence, which means they don't have to tell the customer how much they're going to pay back, which feeds into some of the problems we're seeing at the moment of customers not able to pay back their loans."

Google says its key motivation is to try to direct customers to the best websites.

A spokesman told Sky News: "As part of our on-going effort to reduce webspam and return high-quality websites to our users, we are constantly improving our search algorithm to better detect and decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google's quality guidelines and engaging in webspam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings."

For legal reasons we are not naming the websites linked to hacking but we have passed our evidence to the OFT, which told us: "The OFT is clear regarding the standards it expects from those businesses that it regulates and has publicised an extensive suite of guidance documents. We take very seriously any evidence tending to show that businesses are not meeting the standards set out in our guidance.

"The guidance for credit brokers and intermediaries states that creditors should satisfy themselves that persons they deal with are appropriately licenced. Accepting leads from unlicensed sources would raise concerns about a lender's fitness to hold a consumer credit licence."

At one point during our investigation we found the highest ranking website on Google was a four-day-old domain registered to a field in California.

Just a few days in this position can earn the web owner tens of thousands of pounds. Yet this site was in breach of several regulations and displayed nothing on the website to suggest it was licenced to sell loans in the UK.

Last November, the OFT opened formal investigations into the tactics used by an number of payday lenders. But if the regulator wants to properly police the market, it seems it is going to have to work with Google.

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Flood Fears As Snow Melts And Rain Moves In

Heavy rains combined with milder temperatures which are thawing the snow that has blanketed much of Britain have sparked fears of flooding across the country.

Large parts of the UK are on alert for flooding, and the Met Office is warning people to be prepared for potential travel disruption.

The Environment Agency (EA) has issued 64 warnings across England and Wales, meaning flooding is expected, urging people in the Midlands, South West, Wales and Anglian region to take immediate action against predicted flooding.

Another 305 alerts, meaning flooding is possible, are also in place - increasing every few minutes - after the agency warned of an increased risk of surface water and river flooding.

Flooded roads in Lincolnshire this morning (Pic: Kevin Leach)

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued nine flood warnings and eight alerts.

The AA said that crews had been called to 17 motorists stuck in water since midnight.

Staffordshire Police tweeted images of flooding on the A34 around the Meaford Road junction in Stone, earlier, while Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service warned motorists against "driving through flood water" after being called out to rescue several people.

There were reports of flooding in south Wales overnight after downpours replaced almost two weeks of snow.

The A34 at the Meaford Road junction in Stone, (Pic: Staffordshire Police)

Norfolk Police also reported flooding caused by melting snow and ice, which has closed a number of roads in the area.

Forecasters are predicting a very wet spell through the latter part of Monday and into Tuesday too.

Sky News weather presenter Isobel Lang said: "After very mild, wet and windy weather last night, snow has melted rapidly. The combination of heavy rain and the thaw has brought flooding in places.

"Flooding will continue to be a concern during Monday and Tuesday as further active frontal systems are set to sweep east bringing gales and heavy rain.

A house collapses in Barnsley, apparently under the weight of fresh snow

"Western and southwestern parts are most at risk with around one to two inches of rainfall, perhaps more on higher ground.

""The outlook is for it to remain generally mild, windy and unsettled."

Rising temperatures of up to 12C (53F) have sparked a rapid thaw of the snow and ice, after heavy snow storms on Friday night left hundreds of people stranded on motorways in the north of England.

The M6 was blocked in both directions between junctions 25 and 27 in Lancashire when a sudden burst of more than a foot of snow brought drivers to a standstill from around 8.30pm.

Many became stuck along the stretch of motorway between Wigan and Standish after struggling to make it up inclines in the treacherous conditions, while a number of accidents including jack-knifed lorries also blocked lanes.

Mountain rescue workers were drafted in to help with rescue operations and check on the condition of drivers stranded by the snow.

A diabetic man was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital after falling ill, while an ambulance taking a female patient to Royal Preston Hospital had to be dug out of the snow by Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue team.

A family had to be evacuated when the gable end of their house collapsed, apparently under the weight of fresh snow in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

An EA spokesman said: "Emergency teams from the Environment Agency will be out in force throughout the weekend, shoring up defences, monitoring river levels and clearing blockages from watercourses."

Around 18 buildings were flooded in various locations across Wales on Friday night, including two houses in Solva, Pembrokeshire, and two in Dolgellau, North Wales.

:: Send us your flood photos and videos

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Brazil Nightclub Fire: 'Ninety' Killed

At least 90 people have reportedly died from smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at a nightclub in southern Brazil.

Around 200 others are being treated in several hospitals after the blaze in the city of Santa Maria in Rio Grande do Sul.

It is believed to have started at 2am after a pyrotechnic show for a local band at the Kiss nightclub.

The sound proofing of the building reportedly caught fire and smoke from this then asphyxiated victims.

The blaze spread quickly and produced a thick black smoke.

It is thought the venue only had one emergency exit and firefighters made a hole in the wall to help people escape.

Firefighters confirmed all the deaths were due to smoke inhalation.

"We have just taken the fire under control," Colonel Silvia Fuchs of the local fire department was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"Now we are removing the bodies."

More follows...

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Weather: Snow Storm Brings M6 To Standstill

Hundreds of drivers spent up to eight hours trapped in their vehicles on the M6 in Lancashire after heavy snow brought the motorway to a standstill.

The motorway became blocked in both directions between junctions 25 and 27, near Wigan, last night after vehicles became stuck in more than a foot of snow and some drivers abandoned their cars.

Many drivers were affected along the stretch between Wigan and Standish after struggling to make it up inclines in the treacherous conditions, while a number of accidents including jack-knifed lorries also blocked lanes.

Mountain rescue teams were brought in to help police and the Highways Agency clear roads and assist those who were stranded.

The M6 gridlock. Pic Kevin Collister

One man had to be taken to hospital after becoming ill in his car while it was stuck.

And some of the stranded drivers passed the time with snowball fights and building snowmen.

The M6, as well as the M56 and M58 which were also blocked, are now all moving again but remain heavily congested with long tailbacks, Lancashire Police said.

Motorists contacted Sky News overnight to share their tales of woe.

Kevin Collister, stuck on the motorway just past the M58 junction heading northbound, said: "There is absolutely no movement whatsoever on my side of the carriageway, all the snow is squashed down into ice and there are wagons trying to move and sliding sideways.

Some M6 motorists made the most of the snow. Pic Ashley Pinches

"It's an absolute nightmare, we've been here for three hours so far. A few people are saying we might be here for the night but we're just hoping we can get through."

Conservative MP David Morris, stuck on the southbound carriageway, said: "We've ground to a halt on both sides. Nothing is really moving.

"But the emergency services have been fantastic and are doing the best for us, and everyone is in good spirits.

"I've just seen a snowball fight and the man next door to me has built a snowman on top of his car roof ... it's very surreal."

Barry Pinches, on his way to Blackpool, told Sky News: "At one stage we didn't think we would make it but it looks like things are moving slowly now. We saw some snow ploughs on the southbound carriageway but there doesn't seem to be too many of them - they have their work cut out."

Pete Martin, from the Highways Agency, confirmed to Sky News that the carriageways had been gritted before the snow came down.

The M6 was blocked both ways in Lancashire

"We had an extremely intense fall of snow across Lancashire between 8.30pm and midnight and basically there wasn't enough traffic to keep the lanes moving," he said.

"A number of HGVs lost traction between junctions 25 and 27 and once they blocked the carriageway the snow stacked up and the result was a number of stranded vehicles."

The agency worked throughout the night to clear the routes with snow ploughs. It is urging those who had abandoned their cars to return to them as soon as possible.

A spokesman said: "With the rain falling and ice melting onto very cold road surfaces, we are now warning drivers of the danger of ice."

Hazardous driving conditions led to collisions and delays on many routes across the north of England, including the M18, M60, M65, M56 and M58.

Meanwhile, all flights have been suspended at Leeds Bradford International Airport this morning as a fresh blanket of snow covered most of the Yorkshire region.

North Yorkshire Fire Service said a couple had to be rescued from a snow drift on the North York Moors last night.

North Yorkshire Police said some main roads were blocked by snow and abandoned vehicles including the A59 between Harrogate and Skipton and the B6265 at Rylstone.

The Met Office has ice warnings in place across the UK, urging drivers and pedestrians to take care.

Hazardous conditions on the M61. Pic AA Special Operations

Weather experts have warned of the risk of flooding this weekend, as heavy rain moves in and rising temperatures spark a rapid thaw of the built-up snow and ice.

In southwest Wales, emergency services are already responding to a rise in calls as roads and properties become flooded.

There are also reports of flooding on the M5 between junction 25 for Taunton and junction 26.

The Environment Agency has about 15 flood warnings in place, mostly in the southwest, and around 80 less serious flood alerts.

Temperatures will steadily rise from tomorrow to an average of 4C before reaching more than 10C in the south on Sunday followed by wet and windy weather next week.

The severe weather over the past week has hit working hours, according to a survey of more than 2,000 workers by Green Flag Breakdown.

The motoring organisation said one in five people had been too afraid to drive because of the icy and snowy conditions, and a further 5% tried to take to the road but had to turn back.

The snow-blanketed racecourse in Bath

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